SPECIAL REPORT: Mental health issues and the COVID-19 pandemic
(KION) The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way we live for nearly a year now, changing the way we touch things, how interact with out friends and family and how we spend our holidays.
The weight of all this change can be too much for many mentally and emotionally. For those in the mental health field, the pandemic has been a time to try and help people get by.
Depression, anxiety, loneliness and despair. These emotions have come full surface in the last year after the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation and the world changing nearly every aspect of our lives.
“People who are already dealing with a lot of mental health issues are having a particularly difficult time now too because with COVID, people are feeling isolated anyway, and that sense of isolation is really doing a number on a lot of good people,” said Joe Livernois, the board president of NAMIMC.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness in Monterey County has been getting a lot of calls from residents looking for help. While they are not stocked with therapists per se, they still advocate for and educate those in need.
“We’re getting a substantial number of people calling us more than usual particularly in the last quarter,” said Livernois.
“COVID-19, I’ve definitely seen an uptick in my practice of people coming in with just a lot of feeling overwhelmed, anxious, worried. I work with teens and a lot of parents and my teen clients are really struggling with the online school,” said Peter Binnings, a licensed clinical social worker.
Binnings works as a therapist in the Santa Cruz area. He has noticed as the pandemic drags on, so do the emotions.
“As a crisis continues and gets prolonged, it just gets complicated. People get burned out, they’re not quite sure what to do, they kind of isolate more, they pull in more, they get angry, they get frustrated a lot more and they get really stuck and hopeless,” said Binnings.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just three months into the start of the pandemic in the US, 40 percent of American adults already reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse.
31 percent reported anxiety or depression symptoms while 11 percent said they seriously considered suicide. During this time, sometimes the most important thing to do is just listen.
“A lot of people are suffering quite a bit right now and it is a hard time. It’s important to acknowledge that and not try to fix that per se, not say OK, here’s a solution,” said Binnings.
The CDC says it is normal to be stressed during pandemics. If you are feeling worried about yourself and your loved ones, or if you've experienced difficulty sleeping, change in your eating patterns or a worsening of any chronic health problems, it is important to find way to cope.
The first step is to recognize you may need help and to reach out.
“That’s ways to heal yourself is if you know you’re not alone, you can pick up tips from other people. I think always take care of yourself and reach out to others for help is really important right now,” said Livernois.
“In my practice, I work with people a lot around acceptance. And that’s a concept about kind of being able to accept difficult and hard things that we don’t have control over. Doesn’t mean we’re OK with it, but it’s helpful to kind of accept that,” said Binnings.
For more resources, you can visit peterbinnings.com and namimonterey.org.
